KUALA LUMPUR: The Sports Ministry have confirmed that they have not sacked Lim Teong Kim from his position as director of the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (MDA).
However, Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said his ministry will review his RM175,000 tax free monthly salary under the National Football Development Programme (NFDP).
Under-fire Teong Kim was relieved of his duties as the national Under-16 coach following the team’s failure to reach the knockout stage of the ongoing AFC Championship in KL.
“The public should know that 80 per cent of his salary was initially paid by a sponsor. However, the National Sports Council (NSC) have been paying his salary since the sponsor withdrew two years ago and this affected funding for other sports.
“The FA of Malaysia (FAM) sacked Teong Kim as the Under-16 coach. But this decision has nothing to do with his current designation with MDA. He is still the director under NFDP.
“I want Teong Kim to continue with his job (with NFDP), but with the present financial situation, NSC cannot afford to pay his current salary.
“There will be a meeting with Teong Kim and I hope we can find a win-win situation for both parties,” Syed Saddiq said in a statement on Saturday.
Teong Kim’s side was handed a task to qualify for next year’s Under-17 World Cup in Peru, but the team failed in their quest with only one win from three matches in their AFF Under-16 group.
“On the government’s funding for NFDP, I will discuss this with the Finance Ministry and we will come up with a suitable budget,” he added.